#39: Golden City Chinese Restaurant

On my way home today I swung by Golden City Chinese Restaurant since I missed out last weeked. It’s located right next to the 7-11 on South Cirby Way. I still don’t know why they were closed since I’m pretty sure I had gone by during business hours. This time they were open, so I headed on in. I’ve been here only once or twice, about 10 years ago, and I remembered it being good. That’s an old memory though and a lot can change in 10 years. Other than a definitely much nicer menu inside at the counter, the place still had the same “feel”. They have a couple little tables on each end of the tiny space, more for waiting than eating I would guess, though you could certainly eat here.

I skimmed over the menu and decided to pick a couple of my usual items. I went with General Tso’s chicken (relevant comic) and sweet and sour pork. For the third item I normally would go with chow mein or fun but I thought I’d give the fried rice a shot. I’m not usually too into fried rice most places because at best it’s just ok. The entertainment of Benihana aside I would go there for a giant bowl of fried rice if I could, it’s mind blowing. I was told my order would be ready in about 10 minutes and the woman went into the back where she and the main cook both worked on my order as well as some others that were phoned in. Exactly 10 minutes later I was handed a heavy bag and headed home.

Once home I got a plate filled up and went to town. The rice was not great, but I would say it was a little better than “just ok”. It was clearly fresh. The beef was decent, it was juicy but not super flavorful. I will continue to eat the leftovers of this, where fried rice elsewhere I might just call it after the first serving. Next time however I will probably go with chow mein/fun.

General Tso’s chicken was pretty good overall. Some pieces were a bit stringy and reminded me of the chicken I would get at the Hot Wok in Raleys back when I worked at the Jack in the Box on Douglas. A few bites had a little kick to them.

The sweet and sour pork was not totally drenched in bright red sauce like most others I’ve had. There was a good amount of the sauce in the container though so I was able to get as much or as little on each bite as I wanted, which was kind of nice. This was also a bit on the stringy side and not super flavorful. The bell peppers and pineapple were good and there was just the right amount in it, not overwhelming or hard to find. This was ok, but I would probably try other things before ordering it again.

Alrighty then

For a $20 order that I will easily stretch across 4 meals this was a pretty good deal. Taste-wise everything averaged out to ok. For almost 4 times as much I might be more inclined to go to Panda Express, but this is decent if I know I want to get some leftovers out of it. I don’t recall the prices at Rose Garden but I don’t think they would be too far off, so it would probably be a better choice even for that purpose. So overall, Golden City was neither particularly bad or good. A 2.5 of 5 fits it nicely.

Finally here’s one of my boys, Dusty, who did not seem especially thrilled that he had to wait to eat after me.

Wow, haven’t thought of this place in a long time…over 20 years at least. Didn’t think they’d still be in business. It might even been called something else. We use to live off of Old Ranch Road and Oak Avenue and I would go up here to get dinner once in a while. If I remember, it was passable then. We ate lunch at Rose Garden on Monday…to celebrate my Chinese heritage…their food is YUM!